1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of producing a thin-film magnetic head, a thin-film magnetic head, a head gimbal assembly, and a hard disk drive.
2. Related Background Art
A thin-film magnetic head with a writing electromagnetic conversion device and/or a reading magnetoresistive device is configured to float or fly over a hard disk as a recording medium during recording into or reading from a hard disk drive (e.g., Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-20635). Specifically, the thin-film magnetic head is mounted on a gimbal, and the gimbal is attached to a distal end of a flexible suspension arm, thereby constructing a head gimbal assembly (HGA). Then an airflow made with rotation of the hard disk flows under the thin-film magnetic head to bend the suspension arm, whereupon the head flies.
With increase in density of the hard disk, the air gap or head fly height between the thin-film magnetic head and the hard disk has been decreasing as 20 nm, 15 nm, and 10 nm to the limit.